See this movie for the casting alone: Run, Stranger, Run, which I came across at Movieland on Parc, isn't much of a film. But the bizarre cast made it unmissable for a '70s TV addict like me. The plot concerns one pre-Happy Days Ron Howard (is it just me or was he something of a hottie?) who visits a small town in search of the mother who abandoned him when he was an infant. The mom is played by none other than Cloris Leachman, who in turn is shacking up with Bobby Darin! Not only is Howard bummed out by his maternal quest but it turns out there are a whole bunch of mysterious murders that have plagued this small but eventful place. Howard finds himself trying to solve the mystery by heading over to his aunt's place (and she's played by Patricia Neal) to figure out who's been chopping up all those people. One good murder sequence, but little or no mystery.

For those who haven't managed to see American Beauty yet, it's out on video this week. Yeah, yeah, the trashing of suburbia has been done before but I still think this is one of the few films the Academy got right: it richly deserved its Best Picture Oscar.

--Matthew Hays